Storage containers

ABSTRACT

A storage container comprising a base, a first pair of upstanding sides mounted on opposed edges of the base, support means on said first upstanding sides for supporting above said one container a further similar container, at least one further side lower than said first sides such that its lower edge lies below said further container when mounted above said one container, socket-engaging portions on said further side, sockets on said base for engaging said socket-engaging portions in such a manner that when said portions are lowered in said sockets the further side is supported in an upright position by the socketengaging portions in the sockets, but when said further side and socket-engaging portions are raised up, said socket-engaging portions are constrained at the top of the sockets and allow pivotal movement of said further side in an outward direction to provide access to the interior of the container even when a further container is stacked above said one container, further socket-engaging portions on said first sides, further sockets on said base for engaging said further socket-engaging portions in such a manner that when said portions are lowered into said further sockets the first sides are supported in an upright position by the socket-engaging portions in the sockets, but when said first sides and further socket-engaging portions are raised up, said further socket-engaging portions are constrained at the top of the further sockets and allow pivotal movement of said first sides in an inward direction to enable the container to be collapsed when empty.

te-t m m -m nd. m wm mw ma bdrmow a S e 0 e enmhd smss-nl-fi sw rm... rm s P r momrfi o mmd C mm ABSTRACT: A storage container pair ofupstanding sides mounted base, support means on said first u ing abovesaid one container a f least one further side lower than s andsocketengaging porgaging portions are cond allow pivotal movementstrained at the top of the sockets an of said further side in an outwarddirection to provide access to the interior of the container even when afurther container is stacked above said one container furthersocket-engaging sockets on said base for engaging portions in such amanner 19, 97 A; 2i7/43 A portions on said first sides, further gagingsaid further socket-en that when said portions are'lowered into saidfurther sockets the first sides are supported in an upright position bythe socket-engaging portions in the sockets, but when said first sidesand further socket-engaging portions are raised up, said furthersocket-engaging portions are constrained at the top of the furthersockets and allow pivotal movement of said first sides in an inwarddirection to enable the container to be collapsed when empty.

United States Patent- 67 Bittell Road, Barnt Green; Ernest Edwin Baggnt,26 Canterbury Road, West Bromwich, both of England 8 m 4 W. J c w s f Om N m n v P .m A 1 l 2 .l 7 2 Feb. 10, 1970 [45] Patented Dec. 14, 11971[22] Filed [54] STORAGE CONTAINERS 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

2 16 W d2 52 6 B 0 2 7 d 5 6 B O 5 Field WNW n t/ 3 N n u t m b 7 1 e11.] T. i .r A mnmm 0% M r 3 P mmfi Nee E 66 & l nn E mmmm we D RFFGG mmF k 4049, v 5665 y 9999 "a HHHHMW 78 2 n MK 3486 2537 1 W 8748 am 6270m0 ,2 nn 1] PA Patented Dec. 14, 1971 2 Sh@@tm-$hm t 1 FIG/l Jr! fi inINVENTOR5 m (ZW V/MMV! ATTORNEY mmmm Patented Dec. 14, 1971 2ShMtw-Shwwt 2 FHG.8.

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INVENTORS wgvats ,7V 1 WWW W ATTORNEY STORAGE CONTAINERS The inventionrelates to storage containers and particularly to such containers whichare suitable for being stacked together.

Storage containers such as pallets are often constructed in such a waythat they can conveniently be stacked together in order to provide alarge storage volume without taking up a large floor area. When it isdesired to gain access to the contents of such a container, it isusually necessary to unstack the containers to provide access to anycontainer other than the top container in the stack. An alternativearrangement is to provide the containers with long legs so that thecontainers when stacked together are spaced apart, thereby providing thenecessary access without unstacking. This kind of container has thedisadvantage that a substantial amount of vertical height is wasted.

According to the present invention there is provided a storage containercomprising a base and upstanding sides arranged along each edge of thebase, a first pair of sides being higher than at least one other sidesuch that a series of such containers can be stacked one above anotheron their higher sides, leaving the lower side or sides free at theirupper edges,

at least one lower side being pivotal outwardly to provide access to thecontainer even when another container is stacked above said container,said side being supported in its upright position by means of one ormore pivots carried by said side and each engaged in a correspondingsocket such that when the pivot is raised upwardly in the socket pivotalaction can take place but when the pivot is depressed in the socket theside is secured in an upright position by said socket.

Preferably the container is rectangular and has one pair of higheropposite sides being pivotal outwardly to give access to the container.

Preferably all the sides of the container are pivotal inwardly to enablethe container to be folded into a small space when it is not in use,said sides being supported each in an upright position by means ofpivots carried by said sides and engaged in corresponding sockets suchthat when each pivot is raised upwardly in its socket the correspondingside is secured in an upright position by said socket.

Preferably a resilient means such as one or more tension springs isprovided in order to pull the side of the container in a downwarddirection so that as the side of the container is swung up to a verticalposition it snaps downward and becomes located in the vertical position.Such an arrangement simplifies the use of the device in that it is nolonger necessary to take any positive action in order to lock the sidein a vertical position once this vertical position has been achieved.

The resilient means may conveniently be arranged in an overcenterrelationship with the base and the side so that when the side of thecontainer is in its substantially horizontal position the resilientmeans tends to hold it in this position. Thus a single resilient meanscan serve to secure the side in its vertical position and to hold it inits substantially horizontal position, or, where the side may be swungboth in and out from the container, in both its horizontal positions.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a storagecontainer comprising a base and a pair of upstanding sides arrangedalong opposite edges of the base to enable a series of such containersto be stacked one above another, said sides being pivotal inwardly toenable the container to be collapsed when empty, the sides beingsupported in their upright positions by pivots carried by the sides andengaged in corresponding sockets such that when the pivots are raisedupwardly in the sockets pivotal action can take place, but when thepivots are depressed in the sockets the sides are secured in uprightpositions by the sockets.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of exampleonly with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a container according tothe invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic perspective view of the interior ofone corner of the container;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of a mounting; arrangement for one of the sidesof the container;

FIG. d is a section on the line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 but showing the side of thecontainer in a folded position;

FIG. 6 is an elevation of the mounting arrangement of another side ofthe container;

FIG. 7 is a section on the line VIl-VII of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to FIG. 7 with the side in a foldedposition.

FIG. ll shows a storage container which is in the general form of a wirebasket. The container may be suitable for storage of a wide variety ofcomponents.

The container comprises a base ill formed of welded wire mesh 12 weldedto a more substantial wire frame 13 extending around the four edges ofthe rectangular base 11. The edges of the base incorporate short uprightside portions 15 which help to provide rigidity of the base l I. Theseshort upright side portions are formed by extensions of the wires 12 anda wire frame 110.

One pair of opposite edges of the base are provided with upstandingsides 16 which are higher than corresponding upstanding sides 17 on theother pair of opposite edges of the base 111. The sides 16 and 17 areformed from substantial wire frames filled in with wire mesh, similar tothe construction of the base ill.

The sides 17 are pivotally mounted to the base in such a way that theymay be folded inwardly so that they rest on the base ill or outwardly sothat they lie just below a horizontal outward direction. The pivotalarrangement is such that means is provided for securing the sides T7 inthe upright position as shown.

The sides 16 are also pivotally mounted to the base 11, but in such amanner that they may be folded inwardly but not outwardly. The ends ofthe lower sides 17 are so arranged that they prevent the higher sides 16from being folded in unless the lower sides 17 are folded. The sides 17are also such that when folded in they lie sufficiently low to enablethe higher sides 16 to be folded down over the lower sides 17 to withinthe shallow depth provided by the side portions 15.

Details of the arrangement whereby the sides 16 and 17 may be folded orsupported in an upright position will now be described with reference toFIGS. 2 to 8. The comer shown in FIG. 2 incorporates a pair of sockets21. and 22 for supporting the sides of the container. The pair ofsockets are fabricated from a single piece of sheet steel which is alsobent over around the wire frame members 10 and 13 in order to reinforcethe corners of the container. Thus three sides and the top and bottom ofboth sockets 21 and 22 are formed from this single sheet member 23. Thefourth side of each socket is formed by an additional strip metal strap24 which is hooked around the two ends of the sheet metal member 23 andextends around the outside of the corner of the container. This strip 24is more clearly shown in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3, d and 5 show further details of the socket 22 which supportsone end of a side 17 which side may occupy either an upright, aninwardly folded or an outwardly folded position. Each end of each side17 is supported by a stiff wire support member 25 which engages in asocket 22. The lower end of each support member 25 is bent over at rightangles to form a pivot 26 as shown in FIG. 3. The support 25 passes downinto the socket 22 through an opening at one side of the top thereof butthe remainder of the top is closed in by a bent over flap 27 whichretains the pivot 26 within the socket. In the position shown in FIGS.2, 3 and 4 pivot 26 occupies the bottom of the socket 22 and thus thefront and rear sides of this socket confine the support 25 and pivot .26to hold the support 25 and thus the whole side 17 in an uprightposition.

When it is desired to pivot the side 17 either inwardly or outwardly itis first of all necessary to raise up the pivot 26 within the socket 22and this is carried out by lifting the side ll'7 as a whole. Once thepivot 26 has been raised to the top of the socket 22 the support 25becomes free to swing inwardly or outwardly due to the presence of aninner slot 28 and an outer slot 29 in the sides of the socket 22. Theouter slot 29 is formed by a local depression of the wire frame member10. FIG. 5 shows at 251 the position of the support 25 when it ispivoted in an inward direction and at 252 also shows the correspondingposition when the side 17 is swung in an outward direction. It will beseen that the slot 28 permitting inward swinging movement is deeper thanthe corresponding outer slot 29 and as a result of this when the side 17is swung in an inward direction it can occupy a position slightly lowerthan the top of the socket 22. This enables the other side such as 16 tobe pivoted inwardly to lie on top of the corresponding side 17.

Although only one socket 22 and the mounting of a support 25 therein hasbeen described in detail, it will be appreciated that each side 17 hastwo supports 25, both of which are mounted in corresponding sockets 22.

The mounting of a side 16 within a socket 21 by means of a support 31 issimilar in most respects to the corresponding mounting of the side 17 bymeans of a support 25 in its socket 22. This mounting arrangement isshown in the right-hand side of FIG. 2 and in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. The maindifference between the two mounting arrangements is that, as there is norequirement for outward swinging of a side 16, there is no slot at theoutside of the socket 21 corresponding to the slot 29 of the socket 22.Similarly when the side 16 is pivoted in an inward direction it shouldlie above the corresponding inwardly pivoted sides 17 and thus theinward slot 32 of the socket 21 is less deep than the correspondinginward slot 28 of the socket 22. The upright and inwardly foldedpositions of the support 31 are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 at 31 and 31 1respectively.

As with the supporting of the sides 17, each side 16 is supported' atits opposite ends by a pair of supports 31 in a pair of sockets 21.

FIG. 1 also shows an optional feature constituted by a series of tensionsprings 33 which are arranged between a side such as 16 and the upperframe member 10 of the short side por tions of the base. When the sides16 and 17 are in a vertical position these springs tend to hold the sideconcerned down so that the supports and 31 are held down in theappropriate socket in order to hold the side in an upright position. Onthe other hand, when the side is pulled up against the spring force andis then tilted slightly to one side or the other the effect of thesprings is to pull the side concerned down to its substantiallyhorizontal position. Thus the presence of these springs gives a morepositive action to the sides of a container as they are moved eitherfrom an upright to a horizontal position or as they are moved from thehorizontal to the upright position. In the latter case all that isrequired is to swing the side to the upright position whereupon thetension springs pull the side down vertically so that the uprights 25 or31 engage in the appropriate socket. The springs are arranged in an overcenter relationship between a side and the base so that when the side ismoved through a slight angle away from the upright position the springpulls the side towards its horizontal position.

The higher sides 16 both have upward projections 41 at their corners.Furthermore, below the sides 16, the base is provided with hook portions42 for engagement with the top surface of a side 16 of a furthercontainer. The hook portions 42 are spaced inwardly from the ends of thebase 11 so that they engage the top surface of the side 16 between thetwo projections 41 thereof. By this means, a series of containers can bestacked one above the other in an interlocking fashion. This leads to avery secure stacking which may be used not only in a static store in afactory but also for transportation within a factory on internalvehicles or outside the factory on road-going vehicles. All that isrequired to secure a stack of containers sufficiently firmly for use ina road-going vehicle is to secure the lowen'nost and uppermostcontainers of a stack, for example against the side of a vehicle. Theinterlocking arrangement of other containers is sufiicient to preventcollapse of the stack of containers, even during heavy braking or fastcornering of a vehicle in which the stack is being transported.

For internal factory transport, involving much lower speeds and rates ofacceleration and deceleration, it may not be necessary to secure thestacks in any way at all.

in order to simplify the stacking operation the wire mesh of the sides16 does not loop over the top edge of the side. This enables anothercontainer to engage the top surface of sides 16 and be slid along thesesides until located by a pair of projections 41.

An advantage of containers described above in accordance with theinvention is that when access is required to the con tents of anyparticular container, all that is required is to lift one of the sides17 and pivot it outwardly to give access to the contents of thecontainer.

When it is desired to store or to transport a series of emptycontainers, the four sides of each container may be folded inwardly asdescribed above in order to reduce the space taken up by the container.The sides 16 and 17 fold down within the shallow side portions 15 sothat a series of folded empty containers may be stacked one aboveanother by engagement of the hook portions 42 to provide a stable stackof containers even when the containers are folded.

Although the embodiment of the invention show in the drawings employs abasic wire frame and a welded wire mesh construction a container inaccordance with the invention may employ any convenient construction forthe purpose for which the container is to be used. For example, insteadof filling in the sides 16 and 17 with wire mesh these couldalternatively be filled in by means of sheet plastics material. Inanother modification the bottom surface 11 of the base may be reinforcedby diagonal metal strips. In a further alternative, if it is desired touse the container for the storage of particularly small components thewhole of the base may be constructed of sheet metal or covered in bysheet plastics material.

In a further modification in which the container is to be used as a trayso that the sides are not needed to retain contents in the container,the two lower sides 17 may be left out and the wire mesh of the sides 16may also be left out. The arrangement of sockets 21 to enable the sides16 to be folded in or raised up is retained so that the containers maybe closely stacked when empty or spaced out by the sides 16 when usedfor storage purposes.

We claim:

1. A storage container comprising:

a. a rectangular base;

b. a first pair of upstanding sides mounted on opposed edges of thebase;

c. support means on said first upstanding sides for supporting abovesaid one container a further similar container; socket-engaging portionson each side of said first pair of sides;

e. sockets on said base for engaging said socket-engaging portions insuch a manner that when said portions are lowered in said sockets therespective side is supported in an upright position solely by thesocket-engaging portions in the sockets but when the respective side andsocket-engaging portions are raised up said socketengaging portions areconstrained at the top of said sockets and allow pivotal movement ofsaid respective side in an inward direction;

f. at least one further side lower than said first sides such that itslower edge lies below said further container when mounted above said onecontainer;

g. further socket-engaging portions on said further side;

h. sockets on said base for engaging said further socket-engagingportions in such a manner that when said further portions are lowered insaid sockets the further side is supported in an upright position solelyby the further socket-engaging portions in the sockets but when saidfurther side and further socket-engaging portions are raised up, saidfurther socket-engaging portions are constrained at the top of saidfurther sockets and allow pivotal movement of said further side in anoutward direction to provide access to the interior of the containereven when a further container is stacked above said one container andallow pivotal movement of said further side in an inward direction; and

i. said pivotal movement of said sides in an inward direction permittingthe container to be folded into a small space when not in use.

2. A storage container according to claim ll comprising at each cornerof the container a sheet metal corner reinforce ment memberincorporating two sockets, one associated with each of the sidesadjacent said comer.

3. A storage container according to claim ll further comprisingresilient means arranged to pull a pivotal side of the container in adownward direction so that as the side of the container is swung up to avertical position, it snaps downward by means of said resilient meansand becomes located in the vertical position.

4. A storage container according to claim 1, the resilient means beingarranged in an overcenter relationship with the base and the side sothat when the side of the container is in its substantially horizontalposition the resilient means tends to hold said side in this position.

i t '1' WI It

1. A storage container comprising: a. a rectangular base; b. a firstpair of upstanding sides mounted on opposed edges of the base; c.support means on said first upstanding sides for supporting above saidone container a further similar container; d. socket-engaging portionson each side of said first pair of sides; e. sockets on said base forengaging said socket-engaging portions in such a manner that when saidportions are lowered in said sockets the respective side is supported inan upright position solely by the socket-engaging portions in thesockets but when the respective side and socket-engaging portions areraised up said socket-engaging portions are constrained at the top ofsaid sockets and allow pivotal movement of said respective side in aninward direction; f. at least one further side lower than said firstsides such that its lower edge lies below said further container whenmounted above said one container; g. further socket-engaging portions onsaid further side; h. sockets on said base for engaging said furthersocketengaging portions in such a manner that when said further portionsare lowered in said sockets the further side is supported in an uprightposition solely by the further socketengaging portions in the socketsbut when said further side and further socket-engaging portions areraised up, said further socket-engaging portions are constrained at thetop of said further sockets and allow pivotal movement of said furtherside in an outward direction to provide access to the interior of thecontainer even when a further container is stacked above said onecontainer and allow pivotal movement of said further side in an inwarddirection; and i. said pivotal movement of said sides in an inwarddirection permitting the container to be folded into a small space whennot in use.
 2. A storage container according to claim 1 comprising ateach corner of the container a sheet metal corner reinforcement memberincorporating two sockets, one associated with each of the sidesadjacent said corner.
 3. A storage container according to claim 1further comprising resilient means arranged to pull a pivotal side ofthe container in a downward direction so that as the side of thecontainer is swung up to a vertical position, it snaps downward by meansof said resilient means and becomes located in the vertical position. 4.A storage container according to claim 1, the resilient means beingarranged in an overcenter relationship with the base and the side sothat when the side of the container is in its substantially horizontalposition the resilient means tends to hold said side in this position.